In January the opposition six-party election alliance will announce a joint presidential candidate for the upcoming Turkish elections, Karar TV reported on Tuesday.
The potential presidential candidate of the bloc has been contentiously debated in Turkey for almost a year, as opposition voters this time are hopeful that their candidate have a high chance of declaring victory against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
As the election approaches, the polls show that the bloc led by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and centre-right the Good Party (İYİ Parti) need the support of Kurdish voters to win the presidential elections.
“We don’t know the election date yet. However, our announcement will arrive in January,” said Buğra Kavuncu, the Istanbul Provincial Head of İYİ Parti during a program in Karar TV.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the CHP, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of İstanbul and Mansur Yavaş, the mayor of Ankara are the most popular candidates among opposition voters. However, there is also the possibility that the leaders of the six parties will agree on a different name.
The Turkish president is elected through a two-round system, with the top two candidates contesting a run-off election two weeks after the first round should no candidate win at least 50%+1 of the popular vote.